Police Find Explosives In House 60 Evacuated After Grenades Turned Up

August 3, 1986|By Veronica Jennings of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — Police responding to a domestic complaint found a pipe bomb in a home Saturday and evacuated about 60 neighbors during a three-hour search that turned up more explosives, including detonators and grenades hidden in air- conditioning ducts.

The explosives were found about 6:30 p.m. in a townhouse in Foxhall, off Airport Road north of U.S. Highway 192, after a woman flagged down Officer Victor Gibbons and told him her boyfriend would not let her return to the home they shared.

Police said Gibbons went to the door and spoke with the man, who told the officer there was a bomb inside. As the search began, the man was taken to the Kissimmee police station for questioning.

The Orlando Police Department's bomb squad removed a pipe bomb from the floor next to a couch in the living room, police said. During the search firefighters went door to door to evacuate residents from about 50 nearby homes.

Investigators took the explosives to a police firing range. They were at the range late Saturday examining the explosives and dismantling the bomb. The number of grenades and detonators was not available.

Police said they had not determined why the man, Oscar A. Toro, 38, had the explosives.

Toro will be charged with possession of explosive devices without a license and will be held in the Osceola County Jail with bail set at $2,500, police said.

Toro's driver's license shows an address in Loughman in Polk County, police said. He has been living at the Kissimmee townhouse at 1804 Foxhall Circle for about a month, neighbors said.